


Miscalculation

by Sheytune



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25098733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheytune/pseuds/Sheytune
Summary: Steve decides to go back in time to be with Peggy. There's only one problem - he goes to London. (She's in New York.)
Relationships: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers
Kudos: 34





	Miscalculation

He couldn’t stop thinking about her.

The way she had looked when he’d last seen her during his unplanned detour through time – competent, powerful, and oh so beautiful.

The way she’d sounded in 1945, her voice calm and steady even through the tears.

Even before he’d volunteered to return the stones, he’d known he was going to go back, to take a chance at the life he’d never had.

Bucky’d figured it out, of course. Steve felt bad about leaving him behind, but Bucky’d always been the one who wanted hover cars and freeze rays. All Steve had ever wanted was back in 1945.

So Bucky helped him make a plan. They checked the records, and Peggy hadn’t left many traces, but she’d stayed with the SSR until it came time to found SHIELD, and he knew how to find the SSR.

The simplest option would be to return to the day he’d crashed, but the war was still raging at that point, and he couldn’t take the chance of making a mess of it. So, after he returned the stones, he took a moment to say a silent goodbye to the friends he was leaving behind and set a course for London, November of 1945.

He arrived in the mews a couple of blocks from the SSR building where he’d sat through so many strategy sessions, and changed his nanotech suit into clothes that he hoped would help him get lost in the crowd. He took a minute to smooth down his hair with his fingers, and then walked toward the SSR building. 

The war was over, but he could see the signs everywhere, from the bomb-damaged buildings to the man operating a newsstand, a crutch in his hand. The war had been hard on the city, and on the people, in ways no one in 2023 could have understood. 

He turned the corner towards the cigarette shop that guarded the entrance to the SSR, and stopped in his tracks when he saw the burned rubble. 

He casually walked past, looking for hints of where to go next, but there was nothing. The SSR was gone – and so was his best chance of finding Peggy.

_______

He’d had plans go sideways before, but he’d never been this far off course. No money, no friends, in post-war London. 

Still, he was a strategist, so he walked through the city taking stock of his options. The city was rebuilding, so there would be opportunities for a man who was strong and willing to work. He’d need to find a place to live, and figure out how to find Peggy.

Howard might be easier to find, and he’d know where Peggy was. Steve passed another newsstand and for the first time, he noticed the headline on the latest paper: MANHUNT: Inventor Howard Stark flees the law!

He had to admit he’d had better days.

_______

Three weeks later, he’d begun to find his feet. He’d found work as a day labourer, and had rented a room. He’d also begun to formulate a plan, and spent some time recalling everything he could about Peggy’s family. There wasn’t much – he knew she had lost a brother in the war, and that her mother had been devastated by the loss. She’d grown up in Hampstead, in a house she described as a “draughty old thing”, and the news that her mother had re-married had reached her in a camp in France.

He knew how her gaze narrowed when she was angry, that she could do 107 one-armed pushups, and that she’d walk for hours on blistered feet without a word of complaint, but none of that would help him find her. 

It took him an embarrassingly long time to remember the Howling Commandos, and longer still to figure out how to get in touch with them. The library helped, and he spent hours reading back issues of newspapers, trying to find a hint of where they’d be. Along the way, he kept up with Howard’s legal issues. It was no longer a front page story, but every so often he’d find an update buried inside the paper. Of the rest of his friends, there was no trace.

Finally, he wrote carefully worded letters to each of the commandos and sent them in care of their various armed forces. 

Three days later, the front page of the newspaper read “Stark Exonerated” – and standing beside Howard Stark was Peggy. 

She was in New York.

______

Knowing where she was was a start, but he didn’t have the money or papers to get to New York. He needed help. Luckily, Howard was no longer on the run. 

He sent a letter to Stark Industries in New York, and then he waited.

And waited.

He passed the first anniversary of his return clearing rubble from a bombed church, still no closer to seeing Peggy again. He supposed he should regret his decision, but he assured himself that a world with Peggy Carter in it was better than a world without.

A month after his letter to Howard, he started wracking his brains for another approach. Approach a newspaper and tell them he was Captain America, even though he looked 10 years older than the man who’d gone into the ice? Figure out how to get fake papers and travel to New York? Put classified ads in the New York papers? Forget about Peggy and make a trip to Russia?

And then he remembered that she’d spent some time as a code breaker at Bletchley Park. At last he had something to go on.

______

It took another month before he could make the short trip to Milton Keynes. He found a pub near Bletchley Park and settled in to wait.

Around 5, a group of boisterous women came in, laughing and joking together. They ordered drinks, and he sized up the group. Some of them were young, too young to have been there when Peggy was, but there was one, a little quieter, a little more tired, who was about the right age. He walked over to her, saying “excuse me”.

She looked up, as the other women giggled and nudged each other, and he asked, “Do you know a Peggy Carter, by any chance?”

“No”, she answered.

“Oh”, he said, not willing to let it go there. He raised his voice slightly, on the off chance that one of the other women could help him. “I served with her in the war, and I was hoping to get back in touch with her.”

“Why don’t you know where she is?” It was one of the young ones, her face showing her cynicism.

“I’m afraid she thinks I’m dead”, he answered.

“Oh!” It was another of the young women, her heart in her eyes. 

The woman he’d approached pulled some paper and a pencil out of her bag. “Here”, she said. “Leave me your information and if I happen to meet a Peggy Carter, I’ll pass it on.”

Steve scribbled his information on the paper and thanked the woman. Then, with nothing more he could do, he made his way back to London.

______

And then, one rainy Tuesday, his landlady greeted him with the news that he had guests waiting in the parlour. He opened the door, and there was a half second of silence before Dugan said “Cap?”

A second later, he was surrounded by the Howling Commandos, all clamouring to shake his hand and slap him on the back. When the hubbub had died down, Dugan shook his head. “Peg’s gonna shoot Stark for this.”

“Stark doesn’t know. No one knows. Do you have Peggy’s address in New York?”

The commandos exchanged a look he couldn’t read. Again, Dugan spoke for the group. “You don’t need it. She’ll be here next week. Monty’s girl finally said yes.”

______

After so many months of waiting, it should have been easy to wait another week, but somehow it was the hardest part of the past 18 months. He had work to fill up his days, and he tried to fill his evenings – buying a suit, helping his landlady fix the leaky tap, and visiting the barber.

And then, somehow, it was the night before the wedding. The Commandos had invited him down to the pub to wish Monty well, so after work he washed up quickly and jogged down the steps to the front door. He opened the door to see a woman, her hand raised to knock.

Steve stopped in his tracks. Her hair was longer, and she was wearing civilian clothes, but it was unmistakably Peggy,

As he opened his mouth to talk, she pulled a gun from somewhere and pointed it at him.

He countered with the first thing that popped into his mind. “How did you find me?”

Somehow, she answered. “Gerri told me where you were.”

He must have looked confused, because she added impatiently, “you met her at Bletchley. Now,” she squared her shoulders and he braced himself for impact, “who are you?”

“It’s me, Peggy. Steve.”

“Steve’s dead.” Her voice cracked, but the gun never wavered.

“I’m not. Turns out the serum had a few tricks up its sleeve.”

“But how…did Howard…?”

“I can explain everything, but maybe not here?”

She nodded warily and he led the way to the park down the road. They settled themselves on a bench, her gun safely back where it had come from, and he explained everything – his rescue far in the future, aliens, Thanos, time travel, and the lonely months he’d spent looking for her.

When he finished, she asked “when do you go back?”

He shook his head. “I’m not going back. I made my choice, and I’m going to stay here. You’re the love of my life, Peggy. I know it’s been a long time; maybe you’ve got a new guy, and if that’s the case, I’ll be happy for you. But even if you don’t want me, I want to live in a world you’re a part of. I want to watch you do amazing things. I want to dance with you on your wedding day. Maybe I won’t get to be the guy who falls asleep beside you, but I can be the guy who watches your back, or the guy who wishes you well from afar. That’s up to you.”

“I don’t know.” 

Steve grinned. “I’ve got time.” He looked at his watch. “But right now I’ve got to go. Are you going to the thing with the commandos?” 

Peggy shook her head. “No, I’m seeing my aunt this evening. I’ll see you at the wedding tomorrow.”

He took one last look at her sitting on the bench, the sun reflecting off her curls. “I’ll be there.” 

“You’d better be, Captain.” She smiled. “You owe me a dance.”


End file.
